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There was a tragic fatal alligator attack that happened yesterday when an 85 year old woman tried saving her dog from an alligator.
Now, the likelihood of you ever getting attacked by an alligator is next to none, but experts are still warning about getting too close to waterways when walking your pets. This is especially true during sunrise or sunset.
If you're worried that alligators are looking to directly attack humans, that's not the case.
In an interview, ZooMiami Wildlife expert Ron Magill said this:
"These alligators are not malicious animals. They are not looking at a human saying 'I want to come after this human being' but they will look at small pets and not be able to decipher between them and their natural food, be it a raccoon, possum, duck or whatever."
- Other tips Ron had were:
Don't feed alligators - If your pet is being attacked/eaten by an alligator, don't go after it as there's not much you can do
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, between 1948 and 2021 there have been 442 unprovoked alligator bites on humans, including 26 fatalities. The chances of a person in Florida being injured in an unprovoked alligator attack is about one in 3.1 million, according to the commission.